Page 4 - Supreme Court

SC asks Centre to explain UPI charges above ₹2,000, refuses to stay levy

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to explain the basis for UPI charges above ₹2,000, but refused to stay the new framework set to take effect from October 15

SC fixes time frame for EC to decide dispute over TMC's name, symbol

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission to decide the dispute between the two rival factions of the All India Trinamool Congress over the party name and "flowers and grass" election symbol. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana asked the rival factions to complete their pleadings in the proceedings before the poll panel within four weeks. The bench directed the Election Commission to decide the issue within three months after the parties complete their pleadings. The top court passed the order while hearing a plea filed by former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee against the EC's decision to freeze the TMC's name and party symbol. The Election Commission had allotted separate names and symbols to the two rival factions following its interim decision to bar both groups from using the 'All India Trinamool Congress' name and its reserved symbol pending a substantive determination of the dispute. In its interim orde

Why waste time?: SC rebukes govt over timeline for food warning labels

In an unprecedented food safety crackdown, India has raided eateries and shut ​scores of restaurants and factories nationwide on grounds of hygiene lapses

Form 6 row: What changed, what SC said and what remains disputed

The Form 6 row centres on changes made by the ECI to the voter enrolment process during SIR. Here is what the Supreme Court said, what ECI changed and why the new declaration is being questioned

Believe Bengal Speaker aware of deadline on TMC rebels disqualification: SC

The Supreme Court on Monday said it has every reason to believe that the West Bengal Assembly speaker is "fully cognisant" of the apex court's order fixing a three-month time frame to decide the disqualification petition against 10 rebel TMC MLAs. The observations came from a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana during the hearing of a plea filed by Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction MLA Sohandeb Chattopadhyay. In his petition, Chattopadhyay sought direction to the speaker to expeditiously decide the disqualification petition filed against the rebel MLAs. "We have every reason to believe that the speaker is fully cognisant of the decision of this court and he will make an endeavour to take an appropriate decision within the time-frame fixed," the bench said while disposing of the plea. The top court noted that in this case, the three-month period would expire on October 10. Chattopadhyay had earlier approached Speaker Rathin Bose

Medical community can't be attacked: SC cancels Shiv Sena corporator's bail

Asserting that the medical fraternity cannot be touched, the Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Bombay High Court order granting bail to Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre who was accused of assaulting doctors at a municipal hospital in Thane district. The corporator was directed to surrender within three days A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta admitted the Maharashtra government's order appeal for hearing. "The message should go out loud and clear that the medical fraternity cannot be touched. They serve people and cannot be attacked in this manner," it said. There was a similar incident involving the same party after the Mhatre episode, the apex court noted. Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Mhatre, said two witnesses had already been examined. The complainant, a woman doctor, is to be examined on October 3, the trial has started and there is no obstruction, he said. The bench said the Mhatre incident also shows that he was involved in 19 criminal case

SC takes suo motu cognisance of minor's gangrape in moving bus in Delhi-NCR

The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the gang-rape of a minor in a moving bus in Delhi-NCR, observing that such cases underline a systematic failure on the part of law enforcement authorities. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran said one cannot help but draw painful parallels to the Nirbhaya incident of 2012. "The reports of rape cases in Delhi-NCR starkly underline a systematic failure on the part of the law enforcement and the public administrative authorities to guarantee basic public safety," the bench said. The top court said public spaces, including parks, buses, cannot be permitted to become zones of high risk due to lack of illumination, poor surveillance and other administrative facilities. A 16-year-old girl, who boarded a sleeper bus in Greater Noida, was allegedly gang-raped by its conductor and driver and abandoned near Kashmere Gate, more than 40 km away in Old Delhi, on August 4. The two accused have been arrested. The crime brou

SC to hear plea against MDR on UPI merchant payments above ₹2,000 on Monday

The Supreme Court will on Monday hear a plea challenging the Centre's decision to impose a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on specified UPI person-to-merchant transactions of over Rs 2,000. Ending nearly six years of fully free UPI payments, the government has introduced a 0.4 per cent fee on transfers worth over Rs 2,000 made to merchants through the UPI platform from October 15 while explicitly ring-fencing everyday person-to-person transactions and small payments from any charge. The MDR will be capped at Rs 300 for payments of Rs 75,000 and above. Essential and thin-margin sectors -- railways, telecom, insurance, fuel and agricultural inputs -- will pay a flat MDR of Rs 5 per transaction above Rs 2,000. Payments into mutual funds, securities and through stockbrokers and dealers will attract 0.02 per cent MDR, also capped at Rs 300. Person-to-person (P2P) transfers -- which make up 37 per cent of UPI's transaction volume and 70 per cent of its transaction value -- will continue to

ADR, adjudication must aid in resolving family disputes: SC judge

Supreme Court judge B V Nagarathna on Saturday said adjudication and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms must work together in the delivery of justice in family disputes. The chairperson of the Committee for Family Court Matters in the apex court also emphasised that speedy resolution cannot come at the cost of meaningful and just outcomes. Addressing the opening ceremony of a two-day eastern zone regional conference on 'ADR vs adjudication in family disputes: Challenges and way forward', Justice Nagarathna said, "It would be apposite to consider whether the framing of this theme suggests an apparent conflict." "After all, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms are not meant to supplant courts. Rather, the two should ideally aid in delivery of justice, with ADR mechanisms offering speed, privacy and confidentiality in family matters," she said at the event organised here by the Committee for Family Court Matters, Supreme Court, in association with the Gauhati High ...

No train ticket found: SC restores compensation claim for passenger's death

The Supreme Court has said the absence of recovery of a train ticket from a deceased passenger cannot result in defeating the compensation claim, as it restored the payout awarded to the parents of a man who died after falling from a moving train in Gujarat in 2017. A bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and AS Chandurkar set aside the order of the Gujarat High Court rejecting the compensation awarded to the parents of Maheshbhai, who died falling off the general compartment following a sudden jerk and jolt while travelling to Surat via Ahmedabad on September 27, 2017. The bench on Friday said, "The high court gave undue importance to the absence of the railway ticket without taking into consideration the statement made on oath by the victim's father and the fact that the victim had been hospitalised for a period of more than one month. On the preponderance of probabilities, it can be concluded that the victim was a bona fide passenger and that absence of recovery of his ticket cannot ...

SC allows forensic audit of Fortis deals in Daiichi-Singh brothers row

The Supreme Court said the forensic audit must be conducted independently and clarified that the Delhi High Court's observations against Fortis were only tentative

SC sets deadlines for ICU infrastructure upgrades, critical-care staff

The Supreme Court has ordered specified ICU infrastructure upgrades within nine months and recruitment of specialists, doctors and nurses within six months

Plea in SC challenges CEC calls taken without concurrence of panel members

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging decisions, guidelines and software changes allegedly made by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar without the concurrence of the two Election Commissioners, saying such actions violate the statutory requirement of collective decision-making. The plea filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi through advocate Chand Qureshi sought a direction declaring such decisions unconstitutional, beyond the powers of the CEC and void if they were taken without the full Election Commission's concurrence or contrary to the majority view of the poll panel. Besides challenging the decisions allegedly taken without the required concurrence, the petitioner has sought initiation of criminal proceedings against the CEC and other officials under provisions relating to breach of official duty. "Divested of any statutory or constitutional immunity, the Chief Election Commissioner remains directly accountable under the law -- subject to police ...

SC to hear after 6 wks plea to confiscate property of paper leak offenders

The Supreme Court on Friday said it would hear after six weeks a plea seeking directions to confiscate the movable and immovable property of offenders and their family members involved in exam question paper leak cases. The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe. On August 18, the apex court had sought responses from the Centre and the state governments on the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. "All of us will have to file pleadings. So let pleadings be complete," Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, who appeared for the Centre, told the bench on Friday. She said all the states have also been made party in the petition. The bench asked the respondents to file their counter affidavits and posted the matter after six weeks. During the hearing on August 18, Upadhyay had submitted that he was not pressing his prayer seeking measures to ensure time-bound probe and trial in question paper leak cases as the Public Examina

SC plea seeks criminal prosecution of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over SIR decisions

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking criminal prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged violations of statutory duties in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The plea filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi through advocate Chand Qureshi seeks that decisions, guidelines and software modifications allegedly undertaken by Kumar without the concurrence of the two election commissioners be declared unconstitutional and void. It also seeks a declaration that all such decisions relating to the SIR are illegal and restoration of the original Form 6. It further seeks an inquiry by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged deletion of around 13 crore voters from electoral rolls during the revision exercise. The petitioner has sought criminal prosecution of Kumar, Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg and Seema Khanna, IT head of the Election Commission (EC), alleging violation of their statut

SC to hear plea seeking speedy disposal of cases against lawmakers

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to list for urgent hearing a 2016 PIL seeking directions to ensure speedy disposal of criminal cases involving lawmakers across the country. Justice V Mohana, one of the judges in the bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, had on August 18 recused herself from hearing the case, saying she had appeared as a senior lawyer in the matter earlier. On Friday, the CJI-led bench was urged by senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, who is assisting the bench as an amicus curiae, that some urgent directions were needed in the case. "This concerns expeditious trial of criminal cases against MPs and MLAs. Almost 40 percent of the legislators are facing criminal cases. It has to be listed urgently and some immediate directions are needed," Hansaria said, adding a three-judge bench can hear the case in pursuance of an earlier direction. "Yes, it will be listed," the CJI said. Hansaria, in his latest report on criminalisation of

SC seeks Goa cops' response on Tarun Tejpal's plea against rape conviction

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Goa Police on an appeal filed by journalist Tarun Tejpal against a Bombay High Court order that sentenced him to 10 years in prison in a 2013 rape case. A bench comprising Justices M M Sundresh and P B Varale also issued notice to Tejpal on a Goa government plea seeking enhancement of his sentence. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Tejpal, submitted that it was a case where the acquittal was reversed by the high court and urged that his bail plea be heard in the matter. "This is a case of reversal, there is a right of appeal, I have surrendered. The High Court itself has suspended the sentence for four weeks," Sibal said. The bench said it will give a specific date for hearing the matter. On August 25, the top court had directed Tejpal to surrender within three weeks to undergo his 10-year prison sentence and had dismissed his plea seeking exemption from surrendering. Subsequently, Tejpal surrendered before the trial court in

SC lays down safeguards against misuse of Pocso Act in child custody cases

The Supreme Court said police must follow mandatory safeguards before arrests in Pocso cases involving parents or family members where a matrimonial dispute exists between the parents

Put on record steps to curb online child abuse material: SC to govt

The Supreme Court directed the Centre to disclose measures taken to implement its 2024 ruling on reporting child sexual exploitation and abuse material by intermediaries

SC seeks stronger mechanism to tackle over 800K execution petitions

The Supreme Court said collecting pendency figures every six months was not enough and sought a mechanism to track the actual disposal of execution petitions